so the seconds saved him the trouble of extending
his walk any further, by measuring twelve paces; and the signal having
been given to fire, the little one's ball cut through the collar of his
affrighted opponent's coat, and the big one's nearly shot his own toes
off. At this crisis of the affair, the gigantic rustic was scarcely so
tall as his little rival, and his knees and body were so inclined to
take a more firm position, that we expected every moment he would fall
flat on the earth; when his second roused him by saying, "Come, Sir, we
must have another shot." This brought him fully to his senses, and he
exclaimed, throwing down his pistol, "I'll see you d----d first; he has
put it through my coat already, and the next time I may get it where the
tailor cannot mend it. No, no; I am perfectly satisfied; so I wish you a
good morning." And off he trudged, at a pretty round pace, to the great
amusement of the other three, as well as of some country bumpkins, who
were grinning from behind an adjoining hedge, and who roared out, "Well
done, little un; bravo, little robin-redbreast." By the result of this
affair, the six-feet-three gentleman lost his honour as well as his
dearie, and the subject was the theme of many a song in Wakefield for
years after.

The routine of dissipation which was kept up at Wakefield, was not to be
sustained by me without expense; and to meet these expenses I spent more
than my income. This extravagance--with the loss of fifty pounds, of
which I was robbed by my servant, and the assistance of a designing
sergeant, who took advantage of my youth and inexperience--soon involved
me in debts, to liquidate which I was obliged to apply for permission to
sell my commission. This, in consideration of my services, was readily
granted; and, having effected a sale, I paid every shilling of my debts,
and with the residue of the money repaired to London, where, in about
six months, I found myself without a shilling, without a home, and
without a friend. Thus circumstanced, my fondness of the profession
induced me to turn my thoughts to the army again. I could see no earthly
difficulty why I should not rise in the same way I had before; and
accordingly I enlisted at Westminster, in his majesty's 24th
Dragoons,[11] and in two or three days after went with the
recruiting-sergeant to the cavalry depot at Maidstone, then under the
command of Major-General George Hay. I had not been there long before an
officer,